Ten Peachtree Place vs Portland Building

Comparing the Ten Peachtree Place and the Portland Building is compelling because they were both designed by Michael Graves, yet they stand in different cities (Atlanta, GA and Portland, OR), and were completed more than 7 years apart.

What this will allow us to see, is how the same firm's approach adapted to different places at roughly the same time (7 years isn't that much time when it comes to urban context and architecture).

The Ten Peachtree Place is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 256ft (78m) with 20 floors above ground, while the Portland Building reaches 230ft (70m) with 15 floors above ground.

Of course, each project may have faced different briefs or regulatory constraints, which we don't really know about and could also explain the outcome.

Both the Ten Peachtree Place and the Portland Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So Michael Graves followed what was in many ways expected at the time, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms rather, than breaking with convention.

The Ten Peachtree Place is primarily commercial, while the Portland Building is primarily governmental.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Ten Peachtree Place offering 485 spaces and the Portland Building offering 75.

These two towers illustrate the many possible ways to combine structure and enclosure in skyscraper design.